


Mustard and Periwinkle

by WingsOnRabbits



Category: Original Work
Genre: Original work - Freeform, Slice of Life, animal companion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 17:45:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14407233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingsOnRabbits/pseuds/WingsOnRabbits
Summary: Mustard is Periwinkle's cat. Periwinkle is Mustard's human. That's how it is and how both of them want it to stay. The two may not go on many adventures together like most human-animal duos, but neither of them would want to if they got the chance. They prefer to stay home in their two story country house. At best they we're called homely, at worst they we're called recluses, but to each other they we're perfect.





	Mustard and Periwinkle

Moving the mirror upstairs was much harder than Periwinkle had anticipated. The fragile antique was bordered by a wooden frame; carved in the shapes of twittering birds and budding rose bushes all painted in lilac. The mirror in it's entirety was just taller than the five-foot seven-inch Periwinkle, and about half of his hundred fifty-two pound weight. Seventy-six pounds may not be a lot for some, but it sure was for Periwinkle. After the third attempt at heaving the mirror up the stairs he decided to take a break before he shattered the old heirloom. 

He had gotten the mirror from his grandmother four years ago for his thirtieth birthday. She had said that the mirror had been in the family since her grandfather had spied it hanging in his church one Sunday. Periwinkle had expected a story about his great-great-grandfather learning there was something special about the mirror and managing to induce someone at the church to entrust him with the sacred treasure. Instead his grandmother has simply said that he had bought the mirror from the church because he enjoyed the carvings of the birds and their trilling songs. Periwinkle would be lying if he said he hadn't been slightly disappointed by the unimpressive tale 

Never the less he loved that old mirror. It had been a staple of his childhood. Periwinkle didn't get to visit his grandmother often, but when he did he would always rush to find the mirror, which often remained hidden in the basement with many other items that had no proper place in his grandmother's home. He would climb over the perfectly stacked pyramid of boxes (careful not to nudge a single box out of place), tip-toe gently around the mouse traps which would lie in even rows across the open floor, and leap from wool rug to wool rug until finally standing face to face with himself in the mirror. Then he would talk. He would talk about everything and nothing and every other thing one could think of. Sometimes Periwinkle would run out of things to say, so he'd pick up an old novel from the nearby bookshelf and read. He would go on and on until it was time to go home. He was never able to explain why he was so fond of speaking to the mirror, or weather he was talking to his reflection or the mirror itself, but he knew that it felt natural. He felt calm and safe sitting on that wool rug speaking to the mirror in his grandmother's basement. 

When Periwinkle's grandmother had gifted him that mirror he had been ecstatic. He would finally be able to relive those long talks to the mirror from his childhood. Only, Periwinkle had quickly found the mirror to be a disappointment. Over so many years he had stopped thinking about the mirror, and when he got Mustard he had not something to talk to, but someone. He wished his younger self had known how great it was to have someone actually listening. Mustard always looked up to him when he was speaking to her, and sometimes she would "meow" in response to a question. She would sit with him and listen to whatever he had on his mind, like a small furry therapist. She would make different expressions and would make different sounds depending on where the conversation was going. When he was getting happy or excited she would meow and stick up her tail. When he began to descend into a dark or sad tale she would move in close and rub her head against his arm comfortingly. The mirror didn't respond, it didn't show interest, it didn't "churrip" in greeting every time his five-year-old self traversed his grandmother's basement just to find it. No, Instead, it was just a mirror. A beautiful, memory filled, intricate mirror, but still a mirror. 

Periwinkle had kept the mirror in his bed room, simply to use to check himself in the mornings, just as the mirror was made for. Recently he decided it would look much better in his lounge room upstairs, as he though the gentle lilac would fit well with the rest of the soft pastel hues in the room. The room hadn't used to be pastel, but over the two years Mustard and him had lived together they had slowly replaced everything in the house to better fit the two. One thing that had been added were white spiral stairs 

At the moment Periwinkle was silently regretting putting in those stairs. He glanced up behind him, and the spiral of steps seemed to mock him with its height. He sighed and leaned over the railing, looking up the spiral. Looking down at him was Mustard, curiosity gleaming in her brown eyes. Periwinkle smiled and waved up at his dear yellow tabby, and she flicked her ears as if to wave back. She ducked away, and then sprung up onto the staircase's railing. Steadily she made her was down the spiral until she reached Periwinkle at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Hello Mustard," he greeted. She churriped and licked his hand. She looked over to the mirror and then back to Periwinkle and flicked her ears. "I'm trying to move the mirror up to the lounge room. It just seemed so out of place in my bedroom, and I think it will look quite nice up there. I'm thinking of putting it on the space of wall between the television and the bookshelf. What do you think?" Mustard seemed to sit and consider it, before walking to the mirror, patting it, jumping up two steps, and meowing. "Glad you agree. Now the only problem is getting this thing up these steps. You know me, I can barely manage two trips to the car and back to bring in groceries. I still can't believe I considered being an archaeologist before I started working at the library downtown." Mustard rolled her head to the side, as if to say 'we both know how that would have went.' Periwinkle chuckled. "Maybe I should have been an archaeologist, then I would have the strength to pull this darn thing up the stairs." Mustard looked back over to the mirror for a moment before passing Periwinkle and walking off into another room. 

He watched her, curious to see what she was up to. When Mustard came back she was holding a ball of yarn. She placed the ball on the ground at Periwinkle's feet and looked up at him expectantly. He just stared at her, still not quite understanding what she was trying to say. She roller her head, looking somewhat amused, and padded back up to the mirror. She placed a paw on its wooden frame before meowing and looking back down at the yarn ball. "Ah!" Exclaimed Periwinkle. "Of course! Mustard my dear lady you truly are a genius!" Mustard bowed, and padded back down the steps. She went back to the yarn ball and began to bat it around. Periwinkle laughed and shook his head before walking off to the store closet. He rummaged around the shelves of the closet until he came across what he was looking for; a coiled up rope. He grabbed it and bought it back over to the mirror leaning against the staircase.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With one last yank on the rope Periwinkle managed to pull the mirror to the top of the staircase. He tied the rope down and leaned over the railing to pull the mirror onto the white carpet floor of the lounging room. He untied the rope from around the mirror and gently pulled the rope down from the plant hook it had been draped over. Periwinkle had been afraid that the hook wouldn't have been able to support the mirror's weight, but it had managed well. He coiled up the rope and set it aside before he began to pull the mirror through the lounging room. Gently he positioned the mirror between the television and the bookshelf. Once he was done he stepped back to admire the mirror in its new arrangement. 

In the mirror he saw himself. His dark skin, curly hair, deep brown eyes, and pudgy nose. Sitting next to him was Mustard, who also seemed to be admiring her reflection. Her yellow fur with orange stripes, white underbelly, gentle brown eyes, and round face. Periwinkle smiled and looked down at Mustard. Mustard purred and looked up at Periwinkle. They both stayed like that for a moment, admiring each other as they had with themselves in the mirror. Finally Periwinkle looked away and reached to grab a book off of the shelf. He sat before the mirror, Mustard at his side, and began to read aloud.


End file.
